Black tie nights on 3 night cruise

[cruiseluvva]

I have just booked two relatives on a 3 night cruise on Arcadia, neither have cruised before and have no idea about anything. It’s years since I have cruised with P&O so is there likely to be a formal/gala/black tie night on a 3 night trip?

 

Thank you. 

[CarlaMarie]

3 hours ago, cruiseluvva said:

I have just booked two relatives on a 3 night cruise on Arcadia, neither have cruised before and have no idea about anything. It’s years since I have cruised with P&O so is there likely to be a formal/gala/black tie night on a 3 night trip?

 

Thank you. 

 

Yes you do get one gala night on a 2 - 4 night cruise. Hope they have a wonderful time! Arcadia is a lovely ship. 

[kruzseeka]

Just had a look at our up-coming 12 night cruise on Aurora and there's 1 Gala Night and all the rest are smart casual.  Is this the norm now?

[cruiseluvva]

6 hours ago, CarlaMarie said:

 

Yes you do get one gala night on a 2 - 4 night cruise. Hope they have a wonderful time! Arcadia is a lovely ship. 

Thank you.

 

[Happy afloat]

5 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

Just had a look at our up-coming 12 night cruise on Aurora and there's 1 Gala Night and all the rest are smart casual.  Is this the norm now?

Hi not sure why you've only got one gala night. I don't think this is the norm as we had four on Aurora in April. 

[CarlaMarie]

On Aurora, Arcadia and Britannia you should have 2 gala nights in a 7 day period. On Arvia and Iona there is only 1 gala night in a 7 day period. 

 

So on a 12 night on Aurora you should have at least 3 and possibly 4.

[CarlaMarie]

40 minutes ago, CarlaMarie said:

On Aurora, Arcadia and Britannia you should have 2 gala nights in a 7 day period. On Arvia and Iona there is only 1 gala night in a 7 day period. 

 

So on a 12 night on Aurora you should have at least 3 and possibly 4.

 

I forgot to add Azura and Ventura into the ships that have 2 gala nights per 7 days.

[sandancer]

We are on Azura for 17 days for the repo cruise. I assume it will still be 2 gala nights. 

[CarlaMarie]

 

Hope this helps. Although I did think there would be more black tie nights for 12 night cruises on the rest of the fleet, so apologies for my previous post thinking there would be at least 3!  It may be cruise specific though. Your cruise personaliser will tell you nearer to your cruise. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by CarlaMarie

[July morning]

Our cruise on Ventura in October for ten nights,  it shows in my cruise information that it's going to be three formal

[July morning]

Should have mentioned our five night cruise on Britannia had one formal and the vast majority were wearing "formal"

[kruzseeka]

Thank you all for your responses.  I would have expected 3 and wouldn't have been surprised if that had been reduced to 2 but was surprised to see only 1 (this is on my account as I track through day by day).

It obviously doesn't chime with your experiences or the table CarlaMarie has posted (thank you).

 

I just wanted to check as I don't think we'd bother taking formal wear for 1 night.  The one night they are showing is the day after sailing (sea day) - perhaps it's just a matter of not yet fixing any additional evenings but it is misleading if indeed they do intend to have more than one.  I'll keep an eye on it.  But thanks again for your input.  

[davecttr]

Take what it says on the P&O site with a pinch of salt as the reality can be different. For example the formal nights are planned but might be changed due to weather etc. My 14 night Aurora cruise has 3 listed and my 21 night Arcadia cruise has 6 listed.

[Son of Anarchy]

Our Aurora 30 night cruise has only 5 formal nights listed.  

[CarlaMarie]

18 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Take what it says on the P&O site with a pinch of salt as the reality can be different. For example the formal nights are planned but might be changed due to weather etc. My 14 night Aurora cruise has 3 listed and my 21 night Arcadia cruise has 6 listed.

 

Yes I think it is best to take it as a "guide" to the minimum, but that on the rest of the fleet for cruises of more than 7 nights you could expect more. 

Edited May 21, 2023 by CarlaMarie
Spelling error

[kruzseeka]

Just an update.  12nt Aurora still showing on the cruise details as only 1 formal night - thought it might have been updated but not as yet and close to departure now.  Quite surprised it's not 2 and it's not consistent with some of the info other posters report w.r.t to other ships/published info. 

Given the itinerary (Fjords) and adult only ship I would have thought the demographic would be more inclined towards formal nights.  I'm not too bothered really except now questioning whether to bother packing formal wear for only one night.  It will be very interesting to see the % uptake.  I'll report back.  

Edited June 18, 2023 by kruzseeka

[Fionboard]

3 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

Just an update.  12nt Aurora still showing on the cruise details as only 1 formal night - thought it might have been updated but not as yet and close to departure now.  Quite surprised it's not 2 and it's not consistent with some of the info other posters report w.r.t to other ships/published info. 

Given the itinerary (Fjords) and adult only ship I would have thought the demographic would be more inclined towards formal nights.  I'm not too bothered really except now questioning whether to bother packing formal wear for only one night.  It will be very interesting to see the % uptake.  I'll report back.  

Should be 3 formals on a 12 nighter. 

[kruzseeka]

1 hour ago, Fionboard said:

Should be 3 formals on a 12 nighter. 

Well I would certainly have thought a couple but when I log in to My Cruise account as you move through the itinerary from port to port only one night, the day after sailing, is a Celebration Night and all the rest are showing as Evening Casual. Now it could be wrong but definitely only one is shown. 

[Son of Anarchy]

5 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

Just an update.  12nt Aurora still showing on the cruise details as only 1 formal night - thought it might have been updated but not as yet and close to departure now.  Quite surprised it's not 2 and it's not consistent with some of the info other posters report w.r.t to other ships/published info. 

Given the itinerary (Fjords) and adult only ship I would have thought the demographic would be more inclined towards formal nights.  I'm not too bothered really except now questioning whether to bother packing formal wear for only one night.  It will be very interesting to see the % uptake.  I'll report back.  

We're on Aurora in September 30 nights roundtrip to USA & Canada.  Only five formals listed in Cruise Personaliser.  Expected more.  

[P&O SUE]

8 hours ago, kruzseeka said:

Well I would certainly have thought a couple but when I log in to My Cruise account as you move through the itinerary from port to port only one night, the day after sailing, is a Celebration Night and all the rest are showing as Evening Casual. Now it could be wrong but definitely only one is shown. 

Yes I would think so too, especially Aurora. We had 3 formal nights on Azura on a 12 night cruise, was pre you know what though!

[kruzseeka]

2 hours ago, P&O SUE said:

Yes I would think so too, especially Aurora. We had 3 formal nights on Azura on a 12 night cruise, was pre you know what though!

Yes, though as you indicate, things have changed! 

It just seems so inconsistent given a report that an October cruise of 10 nights on Ventura is showing 3! I would have thought Aurora (and Arcadia) might be the ships to hold on to formal nights longer than the rest of the fleet. 

My suspicion is that it's an error and we may have at least one more once on board but that will be too late for those who might not bother to pack formal attire for one night. It doesn't bother me much one way or another except for packing choices but I can't see the logic if it's correct. 

Time will tell!

[purplesea]

On our 7 night Britannia cruise in September we have 2 listed, a Celebration Night and a Formal Night. 

[kruzseeka]

1 hour ago, purplesea said:

On our 7 night Britannia cruise in September we have 2 listed, a Celebration Night and a Formal Night. 

Odder and odder!

Just checked our 14 night Britannia in Sept - 1 Celebration + 3 formal!

Edited June 19, 2023 by kruzseeka

[thornegirl]

I’ve just checked ours Aurora cruise in august. Depart 15/8, celebration night on 16/8.  Then formal night on 25/8.  All other nights smart casual. 

[davecttr]

1 hour ago, kruzseeka said:

Odder and odder!

Just checked our 14 night Britannia in Sept - 1 Celebration + 3 formal!

Celebration and formal nights are essentially the same except IIRC you get a drinks voucher on Celebration night or a half bottle of Fizz if you are Caribbean Tier or above?